THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN AND JOURNAL OF THE COAL AND IRON TRADES. Vol. CXII. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1916. No. 2918. The Mechanical Equipment of Cwm Coliiery, Llantwit Fardre, South Wales. By T. CAMPBELL FUTERS, M.LM.E- Cwm Colliery is the new colliery recently sunk by the Great Western Colliery Company Limited, and is situated at Llantwit Fardre, a few miles from Ponty- pridd. It is intended to win the coal from the area which adjoins and lies immediately south of the com- pany’s other royalties, and is south of the main anti- clinal ridge of the South Wales coal field. The shafts thus penetrate the whole thickness of the Pennant rocks, and the Rhondda series of coal seams is reached at a depth of 450 to 550 yds., the steam coal seams being encountered at a depth of 750 to 800 yds., to which both shafts are sunk. The site chosen for the pits was not by any means an ideal one, as it was on sloping ground, and therefore had to be levelled by building a retaining wall—as will be seen from fig. 1, which shows a general view of the colliery—and filling in behind this with the debris from the sinkings. A private railway, about one mile in length, connects the colliery with the Tail Vale Rail- way Company’s main line. It was anticipated that during sinking a considerable quantity of water would have to be pumped, especially while passing through the heavily watered strata in the Pennant rocks, and it was at first proposed to deal with this by the aid of electrically-driven turbine pumps suspended in the shafts. Down to a depth of 250 yds., however, where a permanent lodge room and an elec- trically-driven turbine pump have been established for the colliery water supply, the water was dealt with by pumps fixed on the walling stages and driven by com- pressed air; and in this way feeders approximating to 10,000 gals, of water per hour were successfully dealt with. Below this depth the Pennant rocks were met, and continued to a further depth of 550 yds., and it was decided to sink through tins by the cementation process. This process was so successful that the water escaping into the shafts was easily dealt with by suction barrels only, no pumping being found necessary. This is all the more creditable, seeing that during the sinking equipment was the “ walling stages,” the one used in the Mildred pit being shown in figs. 3, 4, 5, and 6. It consists of a strong frame constructed of 9 in. by 7 in. rolled steel joists, in which are arranged two openings for the bowks to pass through, these openings being covered with flapdoors, and another opening to allow the passage of a pump. The whole is covered with a strong wood floor, shaped circular to fit the shaft closely. To this frame is attached, by means of 10 in. by 5 in. rolled steel joists, and l£in. diameter tie rods, an overhead wheel or pulley frame, by means of which the walling stage is suspended. This frame is provided with four 3 ft. diameter pulleys, two on each side of the frame, as shown in fig. 6, around which the suspending ropes pass. There are two ropes; one end of each rope is permanently secured to the headgear at the top, passes down the shaft, and under the pulleys on the walling stage, then up the shaft, over pulleys in the headgear, and thence to the drum on the crab engine, to which the other end is fixed. This latter consists of an electrically-driven crab with four drums, each 6 ft. diameter by 4 ft. wide, and designed to hold 1,000 yds. of IjL in. diameter rope. The drums are operated through worm gearing, coupled through clutches to an electric motor of 120 horse-power (2,200 volts), each drum being keyed to a worm wheel, so as to be self-locking, and being provided with clutches. i C.’ k -l '.5-1 ■’V I - J,-.- •> '■ - SfeS" A,-' «£’■• --fez •i • - ■ -•-•i-y’-V X^ The permanent headgears, which are each 70 ft. high, were erected prior to commencing sinking operations, and were adapted for that purpose. These are shown in fig. 2, the near one being the upcast shaft with the air- lock chambers, whilst the one at the back is the down- cast shaft. The upcast “Margaret” pit is 20ft. diameter, and was sunk to a depth of 300 yds. by the aid of a 250 horse-power electrical sinking engine, until the erection of the permanent steam winder, which com- pleted the sinking. At this pit only a single bowk was used, and at present the engine is winding coal with single-deck cages, carrying two trams, each with 30 cwt. of coal. The downcast “Mildred” pit is 25ft. in diameter, and was arranged for two bowks, one operated by a 500 horse-power electrical sinking engine, the other by a geared steam engine, with 16 in. cylinders and 24 in. stroke. This pit is sunk to a depth of 772 yds., the main winding landing being formed at a depth of 756| yds.— a little above the level of the Four-feet steam coal seam. The Margaret pit is sunk down to a depth of 795 yds., and at present temporary landings have been put in at a depth of 743 yds. at about the level of the 2 ft. 9 in. seam, which will form the main return air entry into the shaft. The permanent winding landing will be placed at a lower level. Fig. 1.—General View of Cwm Colliery. numerous feeders were tapped in the boreholes, several of which feeders discharged 20,000 or more gals, per hour, whilst pressure® were registered up to 280 and 300 lb. per sq. in. The liquid cement was pumped in under pressures which sometimes reached 1,0001b. per sq. in. The leakage into the shafts from the cemented portion is now under 2,000 gals, per hour. Below the Pennant the ground was fairly dry, one or two small feeders being met with during the remainder of the sinking, but the whole quantity of water from both shafts to be dealt with at the pit bottom will not be more than about 3,000 gals, per hour; and it is proposed to instal an electrically-driven pump to deal with this, with a stand-by pump driven by compressed air. The shafts are lined with hard 9 in. by 9 in. by 4J in. shaped blocks or lumps, backed with concrete, tightly rammed up against the natural strata. The question of lining the shaft with concrete was considered, but as this would involve the use of “ centres ” or “ forms,” which would have to be set and removed every few feet, it was considered to be equally as cheap to continue the brick walling, which rendered the use of “ forms,” and the consequent labour entailed in their' removal and re-setting, unnecessary. One of the most interesting features of the sinking Each drum can be moved independently for adjusting the ropes. There were thus two sets of parallel ropes in the shaft, suspending the walling stage, and these served as guide ropes for the bowks. A special sinking rider, designed and patented by the assistant mechanical engineer, Mr. Davies, and made by Mr. J. F. Barker, of Ipswich, was used, and is shown in figs. 7 and 8. Barker’s improved King’s detaching hook, with double catches, is attached to the rope socket or capping, and a length of chain, with a special carrier cone in the middle of its length, comes between the detaching hook and the spring hook to whiph the bowk is attached. Above the rope capping a loose sleeve fits the rope, and rests (as shown in fig. 7) on top of the capping. This sleeve is provided with four light wings, made of spring steel, which support the sleeve in the upper part of the double cone in the rider when the latter comes to rest on the frame of the walling stage (as shown in fig. 8), the rope being guided through the sleeve for the distance below the walling stage. The rope is thus kept in a central position, and swaying is considerably reduced. The rider is provided with a double cone, as previously mentioned, and when running in the shaft is carried on the cone fixed to the chain, as shown in fig. 7. The hole on the rider is, of course, large enough to allow the detaching hook to pass